I was attempting to organize my studio today, and found a section of a magazine page (I can't even tell what magazine it's from) that a little sleuthing revealed I had ripped out in 2008. It was a brief review of Nathalie Djurberg's show Turn into Me, which was at the Fondazione Prada April-June 2008. The short paragraph was accompanied by the second photograph I've posted here (which is from her animation We Are Not Two, We Are One), which of course caught my attention.
While I love her work as a whole, I'm going to focus less on the content of her animations (which are wildly graphic, both sexually and violence-wise, so if you decide to watch one you've been warned) because it is less of an interest to me than the manner in which she presents the videos. I will say regarding the content that it was in many ways refreshing to see someone (particularly a young attractive female) tackling such rough (and surrealist) topics that especially in today's culture are being closeted away. The animations are no doubt offensive, but it's certainly no accident.
As I mentioned, what really most interests me about her work is the presentation, which from what I've been able to gather, typically culminates in a really cohesive environmental installation. Too often in galleries and museums I find myself peering into a dark room, watching a few seconds of a video or film, and ducking out. I feel like many people do not even go that far and simply write off the small rooms. This is not to suggest that video/animation/film can not exist effectively on its own, because it obviously does and that would be an absurd statement, but in terms of the gallery/museum setting, I think her method is a million times more engaging, particularly for the kinds of animations she's making. You literally enter into her strange world. Without them the animations are still interesting, both visually and conceptually, but something is almost left to be desired, and the environments really seem to make everything come together and complete.
The bizarre environments (large butts rising out of the floor, strange caves, mazes of giant otherworldy flowers) are accompanied by the audio of her animations, which is always done by Hans Berg. The unease and eeriness of the music really completes the atmosphere (at least, as from what I can gather and have seen online, not having been able to see her work in person myself).
There's a really nice blog post on her work itself here, which is definitely worth checking out if you're even minutely interested.
(I couldn't direct link this first link so: select "exhibitions", then "exhibition archive", "2008" and "Nathalie Djurberg")
-Interactive map of Turn into Me at the Fondazione Prada with really cool panoramic views (click the circular arrows then hold down the mouse to move around, and I'd recommend the full screen. Why doesn't every gallery have this feature?!)
-Press release for Turn into Me at the Fondazione Prada
-Walkthrough of Experiment at the 2009 Venice Biennale
images: various sources; 1&4 are of Turn into Me, and 3 is of Experiment
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